Thanks, Tony!
That "Gulf Crest Special" was a blue '40 Willys with a 352 CID, carbureted, small block Chevy (half-inch stroker motor) owned and driven by W.R. Sanders.
That car was the first door-slammer I ever saw run 120 mph, and I was literally awe-struck! It had a 3-speed manual transmision, and he drove it very conservatively (no power shifts.) It went 120mph and 12.0's at Halls, Tennesee, when I saw it in about 1958. He had the record, then.
I THINK that car got sold and was re-created as Junior Garrison's "Wicked Willys", which was the B/Gas NHRA Nationals class winner and maybe won Little Eliminator, in '62 or '63 at Indy. Junior ran a used car lot in Murray, Kentucky. The new engine for B/Gas was a 339" (3/8ths stroker) SBC, now, with Hilborns. The team of Coleman/Taylor (TCI?) in Memphis bought the car from Junior in '63 or '64.
I watched it run some 12.60s at Lakeland Dragway, in Memphis, at a points race that year. Coleman/Taylor owned the SS/AA record with their Stage II '63 Max Wedge car, and they had a "just for fun" grudge race with the "Wicked Willys."
The Mopar won, going away...
I 'bout cried, seeing a "Factory Hot Rod" STOCKER outrunning a national champion B Gasser...
Drag racing was never the same for me again... sigh...
__________________
Bill
|